HTC VIVE’s virtual reality content developer Vive Studios has just released its latest app: MakeVR Pro. Developed in collaboration with motion tracking and VR company Sixense, MakeVR Pro enables users to create 3D content, including 3D printable models, within a virtual reality environment.

Readers will likely remember that in March of this year, Vive Studios released MakeVR for the HTC VIVE virtual reality headset. Though promising, the 3D modeling VR app was missing some features that would help make it a more professional modeling tool.

With MakeVR Pro, however, we see an upgrade that has accounted for many of these missing elements, and users will be pleased to see that they can benefit from new precision alignment tools—like grids, rulers, snapping, jigs, mirroring, and surface tracking—when making their 3D models.

The new virtual reality app is available on Viveport’s online store for $39.99. (The $20 price difference between MakeVR Pro and its predecessor is hardly surprising considering the extra features and tools it integrates.) In addition to the tools mentioned above, MakeVR Pro also offers precision tutorials that demonstrate how to use the new tools, STL import for viewing, export to STL or OBJ, and more.

To make 3D printing the virtually designed models easier, Vive Studios has also incorporated direct links in the app to online 3D printing service Shapeways. This means that once a maker is satisfied with a 3D model he or she has designed, it can not only be exported to a 3D printable format, but can be ordered quickly and easily via the popular 3D printing bureau.

"This new layer of precision, combined with Vive's room-scale technology, paves the way for MakeVR Pro to become the primary 3D object modeling tool for professionals," commented Joel Breton, GM of Vive Studios. "Users can now manipulate objects with increased precision to take advantage of the fidelity and space that VR allows, much like the way carpenters and machinists work in their real-world shops."

Overall, the new MakeVR Pro app offers improved tools for designing precise and professional 3D models from within a virtual reality environment. All these features are enabled because the program is CAD-based, and is built on the 3D ACIS modeling kernel by Spatial Corporation and Dassault Systems.

"While still a simple and intuitive solution to use, we wanted to ensure that MakeVR Pro provides anyone the ability to create content with precision and accuracy," added Amir Rubin, Co-founder and CEO of Sixense. "Our collaboration with Vive Studios has made for a professional-grade creativity experience that provides a powerful, yet easy way, for people ranging from 3D print enthusiasts to industry professionals, to build precision models while immersed in a virtual environment.”

MakeVR and MakeVR Pro are two of the only 3D modeling apps available for the HTC Vive. More 3D modeling options, such as Oculus Medium and Blocks by Google, are available for the Oculus Rift VR headset.